GoPro app for Windows Phone 8 in development

You know that point when an up and coming operating system starts gaining mainstream developer support? Well it’s happening right now with Windows Phone 8. We’re slowly starting to see big name apps cross the app gap and come to the land of Live Tiles and Lockscreens. GoPro is currently working on supporting Windows Phone 8 to work with their newest line of HERO3 cameras.

You probably have been living under a rock if you aren’t familiar with GoPro and their “wearable” cameras. The cameras are those funky little square boxes that have been attached to people doing extreme sports the past few years and have given the internet an endless supply of insane footage from unique viewpoints. Check out the video below of their newest HERO3 Black Edition (I could watch this over and over and over).

I swung by their CES booth to check out what’s happening and if they had any plans for supporting Windows Phone and instead I see a cyan Lumia 920 on display in their Wi-Fi demo area. The app was set up, so I couldn’t actually test it out, but was told that functionality would be on par with the iOS and Android version. On those versions you can have full control of camera settings, live video prevew and more.

No firm release date was giving, but mid-February is their goal. The app will of course be free, you’ll just need a compatible GoPro with built-in Wi-Fi.

Windows Phone Central will do a hands-on with the app in the coming weeks. Let us know if you have any questions or feature requests in the comments below and we’ll pass it on to the developers.

So one question continues to prevail: why are some companies like GoPro cool with giving access to their products to as many people as possible and others like Instagram are too stuck up/lazy/[insert excuse here] not to?

So why is that that some smaller ones do create apps? This whole talk about $$$ and cost/profit is crap. Facebook and Twitter are free apps on iOS and Android. They can easily have a Windows Phone app developed in a matter of days if they wanted to. We are talking about a few hundred thousand dollars to companies worth billions of dollars. Why does Amazon have an app for WP8? I am sorry, but that argument sounds hollow to me.

Larger companies like Facebook can afford to put a "hold" on developing their very popular apps until enough WP users will complain to Microsoft and Microsoft will finally be willing to pay a large "donation" to such companies so they would start writing the proper WP8 version of same apps ;-) That's the general idea.

L920 allows to use the phone with gloves on. What do you think would be a very big group of people that would benefit from that functionality? Skiers and snowboarders, who happen to be a large part of GoPro's customer base. That's all, there is no agenda here, this just really makes sense for GoPro, I already see a bunch of 920s on the hill and people ask me in the line to the lift what th phone is, because I use it with gloves on and everyone gets curious right away.

There is a difference between the Original HD Hero and the GoPro 2. The GoPro 2 does have a WiFi pack you can install, so I hope they support it, as that's what I have, not a GP3. I mainly use my for diving here in SoCal and in other warmer parts of the world.

I should have clarified, but yes you are right. Their documentation says the original won't work - therefore anything above that should! Like you said even though the GP2 doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi you can get the adapter pack. Good looking out!

I hope so! I would LOVE to not only control my GoPro HD2, but also maybe transfer video from it, or even playback would be awesome. The screen is just too small, and when you are traveling (especially say diving) it would be awesome to playback the video to my Lumia 920 that I have with me at all times. 2013 just might be the year the "app gap" closes even more!

this will allow you to manage the controls and view video from the GoPro. If you want to use the 920 as a cam, you don't need this at all, just mount it securely and use the native camera app to record.

That's great but I think some people (companies) whatever are ignorant and STUCK in their own ways and will never give WP access to the more popular apps, just because its Windows. Its like they (some devs) feel as if they need to protect google ,stay loyal, like its cheating on your wife or something if they write an app for WP. You'll make money, eventually same as Android. Maybe not right away but sometime down the road. Let me tell you devs I'm sure first chance Google gets they will shit on you, don't dought it for a second!! spread your wings. . . Fly like an eagle. More people that access to your apps the better I thought. Who gives a crap what platform their on.

I seriously hope Contour are paying attention to this. Having been asking for a Windows Phone app from them for a while. Contours have a better profile and more usable than GoPros so would be awesome to get a Windows Phone app for my Contour+2
Great news for Windows Phone though!!

Registered for this forum just to add another +1 for the Contour.
For me personally it has a smaller profile for helmet mounting. Less wind resistance at high speed, the GoPro acts like a sail and you can feel it dragging at high speeds.

It's not only a matter of cash that keep developers away from WP. In my opinion, there are several salient points that Microsoft need to address like the total lockdown of the system, the many trials and error aka experiments Microsoft tend to perform on it's mobile customers. All these dont help the WP ecosystem. Being an old time Microsoft mobile platform user, I do have my share of lamentation, although I have remained faithfull. It is been a long walk with Microsoft: From Casio Cassiopeia E105 to Nokia Lumia 920 I hope to get soon. The pdf thing is really irksome. Though I can not claim we were served really good with the built-in pdf viewers, however, we had choices during pocket pc and windows mobile days. Microsoft really must not stop to add functionalities to the system. Apart from pdf reading and sharing, the other thing I really missed is character recognition. I wanna write like in the days of old. Anyway, dont wanna rant no further. Let me just say welcome Gopro. Hope a lot more developers see reason not to live in a duopolic mobile world.

I was at CES and went to. Gopro booth. Most of those sales are idiots they say only iphone or android. I saw you think there will be wp8? They just say don't know. That ok I am glad they are coming out soon!